#*%&$@?!!

[Will B]

That's a shame.  Really nice bow!

[Lumberman]

I feel like this is a portal view into my future, minus the beautiful bow at the beginning

[joachimM]

Your design (long flipped tips and about 3" of net reflex) put a lot of strain on the back, so a small irregularity, or even a small change in equilibrium MC, could trigger a tension failure.
Heat-treating wood leads to a permanent lower equilibrium MC of the wood. Since wood becomes stronger in compression at lower MC, whereas tension strength peaks around 12% (and decreases at both lower and higher MC), toasting the back makes it considerably weaker. See p. 4-35 in the Wood Handbook. http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fpl_gtr190.pdf

As Badger pointed out, the side and back did get a bit of toasting, giving a weak spot on the back. So I second his opinion that the toasting seems to be the culprit.

[George Tsoukalas]

That was  a good looking bow. Sorry.

To me, that break looks like  a bow just pulled too far (27" at 58" ntn).

So I think Joachim is right on.

Jawge

[dragonman]

as George says...58" , recurves, fairly long handle section, fairly long draw, you need everything perfect to pull that off, its expecting a lot from  the wood......got very close tho , well done for that

[Badger]

     When I was at Twin Oaks Pappy gave my a hop hornbeam stave. I had never used the type of cawls they had there and I scorched the back of the bow a little, it blew right at the scorch mark on my first full draw. Another issue I saw here was a high brace height, on such a short bow with so much reflex that aslo added a bit of stress.

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

Damn shame, but holy cow man, good work otherwise, that thing was beautiful. Make another!

[bradsmith2010]

I don't know if the formula is right ,, but I read,, increasing the brace 1 inch,, is like drawing the bow 2 more inches,,or puts that much more strain on the bow,, I have seen the question here why the Native bows seem to be braced so low in pictures,, I think that has alot to do with it,, they didn't want to overstrain the bow with a high brace

[bow101]

Its a shame when they break, I probably broke more bows than you built.    Broke one in the last 4 so I'm doing good.

[riverrat]

thats a shame, was a nice bow.on the plus side....you can always build another one....

[lebhuntfish]

That sucks bud, always hate to see one that made it that far wind up in two pieces.

When you done your heat corrections, did you by chance use any oil on the wood? I find that dry heat by itself does things to Osage I really don't like unless I heat treat it. I can say that I've discolored the sides and the back slightly without any issues at all. But I always use oil to bend any bow wood.
Patrick

[Stixnstones]

Yeah Patrick i did use oil . Seems like a perfect storm of charred back, pulling to far and a lil extreme design that i'm not able to pull off... Yet.

[lebhuntfish]

I know what you mean, it does kinda sound like a perfect storm.
Probably still be together if it was a knarly piece of Osage. I have a belief that the knarly stuff is stronger. Because it had to be to hold together when it was growing.
I can't wait to see your next one though!

Patrick

[simson]

Sorry for your loss.
Looking at the braced pic: it was the right limb, right?

[hedgehog]

Kinda makes me sick at my stomach when I look at the pics of the two pieces. I always have trouble getting rid of the leftovers. I usually hang them on the wall for a while and stare at them while I beat myself up. Then, I start a new one and try to get lost in the new piece of wood. You build a beautiful bow. I can't wait to see your next one.